Trump 'orchestrated' an 'unlawful scheme' to influence the 2016 election by paying off Stormy Daniels and covering it up, Manhattan DA says
- The Manhattan DA alleged that Trump orchestrated an unlawful scheme to influence the 2016 election.
- Trump violated election laws and falsified business records related to hush-money payments, the DA said.
Former President Donald Trump sought to influence the 2016 presidential election by paying off two women who alleged they had affairs with him to secure their silence, according to a statement of facts released by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday.
Trump was formally arraigned in Manhattan on Tuesday related to hush-money payments made ahead of the 2016 election. The first president to ever face criminal charges, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.
In the brief that accompanied the indictment, prosecutors described that Trump "repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election."
Prosecutors alleged that Trump authorized his then-personal attorney Michael Cohen to pay $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels "before the election to prevent her from publicizing a sexual encounter" with Trump. Daniels has claimed she had an affair with Trump in 2006, and Trump has denied it.
Neither Cohen nor Daniels were named in the brief but were identified as "a lawyer who then worked for the Trump Organization as Special Counsel" to Trump and "an adult film actress," respectively.
"This payment was illegal," prosecutors said, noting that Cohen pleaded guilty to facilitating the payment and was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018. Trump then reimbursed Cohen for the illegal payment through a series of monthly checks that were disguised as fees for legal services, they wrote in the brief.
Trump and others "orchestrated" an "unlawful scheme" to suppress negative information about him during his 2016 campaign by violating election laws and falsifying business records, the brief says.
In another part of the "scheme," the brief says, Trump was also involved in discussions with American Media Inc.'s CEO, the company that publishes the tabloid newspaper National Enquirer, the newspaper's editor-in-chief, and Cohen about how to pay off another woman who alleged she had an affair with Trump.
The company ultimately paid $150,000 to the woman, likely former Playboy model Karen McDougal, in exchange for her silence about the affair, the brief alleges.
Trump "did not want this information to become public because he was concerned about the effect it could have on his candidacy," per the brief.
Trump's historic court appearance on Tuesday came after a Manhattan grand jury voted to indict him last Thursday. Trump has repeatedly blasted the indictment as a political witch hunt and denied any wrongdoing.